For the second time this season, FAU women’s basketball (12-9, 3-7 C-USA) fell to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte 49ers ( C-USA) on Saturday afternoon at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena in Boca Raton, Fla. 

The victory completes the season sweep for Charlotte, after the Owls fell on the road 77-67 to the 49ers on Jan. 6. 

Despite taking a quick 3-point lead after tipoff, the Owls’ woes began early on as they shot just 20% from the field and missed all of their attempts from deep in the first quarter. Their struggles shooting, coupled with six turnovers, allowed the 49ers to take a 17-9 lead after the first quarter.

After going down early, freshman guard Aniya Hubbard’s eight-point contribution in the second quarter kept the Owls within reach. Hubbard started the second quarter by grabbing a steal, which she took down floor for a heavily-contested layup. Minutes later she followed that up with her first three-pointer of the night, which moved her point total in the second quarter to eight and shrank the 49ers’ lead to six. 

The Owls finally found some sort of rhythm on offense, shooting 40% from the field in the second quarter. However, that wasn’t enough to take the lead away, as Charlotte went into halftime up 40-28. 

As the second half began, Charlotte continued to extend their lead despite being outscored by the Owls in the third quarter. 49ers’ sophomore guard Dazia Lawrence gave them a 15 point lead, their largest of the night, on a layup with 3:20 in the third quarter. 

A 9-2 scoring run capped by a pair of free throws from redshirt junior guard Joiya Maddox shrunk the Owls’ deficit to 8 points heading into the final quarter. However, the 49ers’ lead heading into the fourth proved to be too much to overcome.

After a 4 minute scoring drought by both teams in the beginning of the fourth quarter, the 49ers extended their lead out to 14 after scoring on back-to-back possessions. Though they were able to briefly shrink the lead in the final minutes of regulation, the Owls ultimately fell by 14 after being outscored 13-7 in the fourth quarter. 

In Saturday’s loss, their fourth in their past five games, the Owls’ struggle shooting was their downfall. As a team, FAU shot just 34% from the field and 29.4% from three-point range. Meanwhile, Charlotte was hot from just about everywhere on the floor as they finished the night shooting 52.7% from the field and 50% from deep. 

The FAU Owls will now prepare for a two-game road trip that will start with a matchup with the Rice University Owls (15-6, 6-6 C-USA) on Thursday, Feb. 9. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas, and will be broadcast by ESPN+.

Cameron Priester is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @PriesterCameron